The Texas Observer

The Texas Observer is an Austin-based nonprofit news organization known for fearless investigative reporting, narrative storytelling and sophisticated cultural criticism about all things Texan.

The Texas Observer • INVESTIGATING TEXAS SINCE 1954

EDITOR’S NOTE

THE STATE OF PAXTON VS. BUSH • What’s worse for a Republican in 2022: To be accused of multiple felonies, or to bear the same last name as Jeb and the Georges?

THE BOOK SMUGGLERS • Texas Republicans are declaring war on history. This has happened before.

TEXAS TALLY • THE NEWS, IN NUMBERS

TAKE BACK THE VOTE • Civil rights attorney Nina Perales has been fighting for the voting rights of Latino Texans for a quarter century.

STRANGEST STATE • NOTES FROM FAR-FLUNG AUSTIN TEXAS

THE GUARDIAN OF THE GUARD • Jason Featherston, who has devoted more than half his life to the National Guard, is now the leading critic of Governor Greg Abbott’s border surge, Operation Lone Star.

THE MURDERER’S LITTLE BOY • IN 2016, A LEAGUE CITY MAN STABBED HIS EX-WIFE TO DEATH. WHY DOES HIS FAMILY HAVE CUSTODY OF THEIR CHILD?

ISRUPT, DEPLETE, DESTROY • THE GOP’S 25-YEAR-OLD PLAYBOOK TO KILL THE PUBLIC SCHOOL ONCE AND FOR ALL.

THE BATTLE OF BEAUMONT • A grueling labor fight dragged on for nearly 10 months in the once-mighty union bastion of southeast Texas. ExxonMobil locked out hundreds of refinery workers in an effort to force an embattled 80-year-old Steelworkers union local to give in—or get out.

THE TEACHERS ARE NOT OK • COVID-19 robbed me of the joys of being an educator.

NEITHER HERE NOR THERE • The City of Austin is back to playing whack-a-mole with its large unsheltered population.

PANDEMIC WITHOUT BORDERS • Laredo Health Authority Victor Treviño’s regional vaccination program has helped inoculate more than 100,000 Mexican residents.

REAL ESTATE

ARE TRUE TEXANS